Thieves steal W-2s, sell them on the dark web

It may be past tax time, but that doesn’t mean the stress is over. Experts say thieves are stealing W-2 information and selling it on a part of the Internet hidden from search engines: the dark web.

The risk is real. Just ask Brigham Gonzalez. He recently changed jobs and moved on his own. Everything was great, until he woke up to a shocking call from his sister.

“She had received a letter from my previous employer stating that all of their W-2s had been stolen,” Gonzalez said. Or at least the W-2 information.

He rushed to call the company, which verified the troubling news.

“Somebody pretending to be upper level management just kind of bluffed their way into getting one of the employees to fax over all of the W-2s,” he explained. The letter contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers, earnings, and deductions.